


Stand Here and Watch Me Burn

by AconiteoftheValley (TheLilyoftheValley)



Series: A Rainbow in the Stars [8]
Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Qwarkarious - Freeform, basically just some angst, idk what else to tag this as, slight robot gore?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26961466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLilyoftheValley/pseuds/AconiteoftheValley
Summary: Qwarkarious. He had said that saving Qwark was the last thing he would ever do. He hadn’t known how right he had been. {Heavy angst warning; character death}
Relationships: Captain Qwark/Dr. Nefarious
Series: A Rainbow in the Stars [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875358
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	Stand Here and Watch Me Burn

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet and Clank or any of its characters. *minor inconvience happens* My sad emotions that I haven't been able to access for a month: "Showtime…"

Stand Here and Watch Me Burn

The red-spiked knees hit the ground, his upper half swaying back-and-forth from the leftover force of the blast. His large head, light from the fading sun catching on the green glass, dipped back before lifting to the sky. Alarms and beeps reverberated in his brain, numerous bodily readings displaying his rapidly decaying health popping up in his vision.

For a moment, he forgot that he couldn't breathe.

His mouthpiece moved. The metal moved and bent, but no sounds came with the movements. What was left of his chest stuttered, fighting to take in air it didn't have the ability to process.

Hands lifted from the ground, shaking violently with every little inch they added between the dirt beneath him.

In a moment, the world drew out of the slow motion and clicked back into place.

The blaster moved, and Nefarious watched as a sick grin stretched across the face of the villain in front of him. Green skin twisted around white fangs as the villain's mouth opened, a scratchy laugh echoing around the plateau. Fabric snapped in the wind as the medium-length black cape framed a navy-blue military uniform, a uniform made to match the colors of the army at the evildoer's command. The Negotiator shot Ratchet had speared right through the villain's other arm disappeared under rapidly regenerating green skin and clothes.

Ferocious screams ripped through the air as a blur of yellow threw itself at the villain.

Silver flashes, both of Clank and Ratchet's wrench, peaked under the planet's setting suns. The Lombax barred his teeth and twirled his wrench with an energy Nefarious had never seen before. In the split second he got of Ratchet's narrowed eyes, he saw raw pain line the green irises and pinpricked pupils.

By the time his mind figured out what had happened, green-gloved hands had already turned his body away from the fight.

The hands didn't get very far. Nefarious' claws pushed back against a wall of muscle, fighting to get out of the other creature's grip. Red optics rolled upward to the top of the eye plating as pain rippled through his body.

"Nefarious…? Nef? _Please_ …"

Whimpers.

His left hand grabbed at the empty air in front of him, trying to sink into the soft ground in front of him and anchor him to the earth. Legs kicked, weak and powerless, against large shoes.

" _Nef… please, you're…"_

There was so much shakiness to the words, it was a wonder they had been said.

Energy left his body as the green-gloved hands won out, turning the robot's body around to lay on the ground. One hand nestled halfway up his back, careful to avoid the limp and damaged flight stabilizers that would do nothing if the robot needed to fly. The other hand cupped his head, stopping it from lolling back.

He blinked, long and hesitant with the visceral needle-like sensation sweeping the pain receptors at his chest and opened his eyes to a face frozen in fear.

Nefarious' form shook, but it wasn't his body that trembled.

Qwark's lips moved, darting between a lopsided grin that barely had any heart and an open-mouthed sob. Fog and condensation settled on Nefarious' face as short, panting gasps left the superhero, close to sounding like Qwark couldn't get his lungs to hold the air he tried to take in. Small tears dripped down from blinking eyes, trailing down the green mask.

"You… you didn't have to- you didn't-" Something that sounded like a mix between a sob and a choke bubbled up from Qwark's chest. "You didn't have to stand in front of me, Nef."

Yes, he had. Qwark wouldn't have survived the hit had it landed, and Ratchet had been too far away for the Lombax to do anything.

A thumb covered the vision in his left optic, running over the metal brow over the facial feature. Short swipes smoothed over the metal, trembling with each slow slide.

"It's gunna be okay," Qwark whispered, hiccups following half the words. "You-you-you… just got hit in the chest… it's gunna be okay. It's gunna be okay. It's gunna be okay."

They sounded as though they were meant to convince Qwark more than it would him.

The hand at his back curled, and Nefarious felt his upper half push tight to the superhero's chest.

"We're gunna take you back… an-an-and… we're gunna… we're gunna take you to another doctor or Lawrence… an-and-and… they're gunna fix you back up."

That's right. He wasn't truly gone unless they destroyed his mind, the one thing that couldn't be replaced.

More sobs echoed in his audio receptors. "An-an-and…" a choked noise came from Qwark before a thick swallow followed "-you'll get to do… al-all the things we talked about doing." The body holding him shook, and heavy tears dripped onto Nefarious' face. "We can walk Snowball together at the pet park three blocks from my house… and we can have movie nights with Ratchet and Clank when you start the rehab thing you wanted to do…"

Nefarious felt his body move, but he didn't register Qwark's full-body hug until Qwark was choking on his own spit and air over the scientist's left shoulder.

"We can watch _Lance and Janice_ together and get you caught up on all the episodes you missed." Qwark gasped. Wordless whimpers came before the next bit of words. "We can curl up under the really soft blanket I told you about… back at my condo… you know? That one with the annoying neighbors that have really loud dinner parties and I know you'd never stop trying to get revenge against… It costs like two million bolts a year to stay there… an-an-and I mentioned to you before that I get lonely and that there's an extra room I don't use…"

The superhero shook, so much so that the looser metal parts Nefarious had knocked together. "'S gunna be okay. We can have a good life together, and you can finally be happy…"

It sounded so nice. It sounded like a weird, nearly impossible dream that would fill his heart with genuine happiness if it came true. It sounded like a happy ending to all the frustration and pain he had felt over the years.

But it wasn't going to be his future.

A groan left the robot as he pushed weakly against Qwark's chest, letting the superhero know to loosen his hold. Qwark listened, and as the hero leaned back, the corners of his mouth pulled across his face, stretching into a strained smile.

"It's gunna be okay, Nef. We'll get you back home."

Faint screams of fury and grenade explosions grew closer to the two of them, the battle between Ratchet and the villain coming back towards where they started. Ratchet's shouts of fury blurred with the blaster shots, nothing but indistinguishable noise.

Then, a louder eruption blasted into the air.

The plateau beneath their feet groaned like a great beast as a quake ran through the raised platform of land. Cracks snacked around and under them, the sound of crumbling rock from the plateau's side drowning out all else. The villain's main base, the massive underground structure under their feet, shrieked as the titanium supports bent to the force of the dense rock around them.

It wasn't over. The past few attempts to kill the villain ended up with the evildoer regenerating back what he had lost. Blaster shots were absorbed into the skin, and even a direct hit to the head did nothing to the villain's well-being.

The only way this could end was if the villain was killed, all at once, without hope of regenerating back, but that was something the villain wasn't going to take lightly.

At this point… there was one thing Nefarious had to do.

Nefarious turned his head, the usual frown decorating his mouthpiece. _"You… w_ _ **an**_ _t to… kno_ _ **w**_ _s_ _ **o**_ _met_ _ **hi**_ _ng… y_ _ **ou**_ _m_ _ **o**_ _ron…?"_

His voice sounded like a faint ghost of his old voice, garbled and mangled like a call with little connection.

Qwark brightened, joy returning to his expression as he audibly wrestled down his sobs. "Ye-yeah. Yea-yea-yeah, what is it, doc? You hate me with all your guts? You want to rip my insides out and dance on them?" The superhero swallowed. More tears trailed down his cheeks as relief washed over his expression. "I-I-I'll even let you rip out my organs right here and dance on them before we go back to Igliak if that's what you wanna tell me."

The frown changed, shifting to a genuine, soft smile. Metal claws, those on his right hand, balled into his palm, forming a loose fist.

" _I_ _ **u**_ _se_ _ **d**_ _… to s_ _ **a**_ _y_ _ **th**_ _at… sa_ _ **vin**_ _g you… w_ _ **a**_ _s th_ _ **e**_ _last t_ _ **hi**_ _ng… I'_ _ **d e**_ _ver_ _ **d**_ _o…"_

He knew the future that awaited him.

"… _I…_ _ **wa**_ _s… r_ _ **igh**_ _t…"_

He moved faster than he knew Qwark would expect him to.

The fist rammed into Qwark's chin, and as a pained _"Ow!"_ echoed in his right audio receptor, he used every last bit of strength in his body to wrench himself from the captain's hold. Dirt scattered under his feet, and as he shot to his feet, he stretched out his legs and put distance between himself and the superhero.

As he took off towards Ratchet, his arm ducking down to cradle the mass of seared wires and exposed circuit boards dripping out of the gaping hole in his chest, his name rang in his audio receptors.

"NO! NEFARIOUS! STOP!"

It wasn't a full moment before he lost complete sight in one optic. With each thump of his foot, more of the wires that had handled every bit of his health came loose.

His arm, fortunately not the one holding him together, lost all feeling. Then went both his audio receptors, closely followed by his right leg buckling underneath him.

Metal brows narrowed as Nefarious looked towards the battle in front of him.

Ratchet and the villain whirled around each other in a cyclone of blaster shots. Flashes of different colors lit up the space between them as bullets rained down from above. The Lombax charged forward, taking the full brunt of the attacks he couldn't dodge in time, blaster raised as he furiously clicked the trigger and emptied the gun into the villain. Said villain stumbled back, looking far worse for wear than Ratchet. His body struggling to regenerate faster than the blaster shots, and terror painted his face as he focused his complete attention on the hero shooting at him.

He only had one shot.

With the last of his strength, Nefarious kicked the sides of his feet against each other, and as his body plummeted forward toward the ground, the rockets at the bottom of his feet flared to life.

His claws wrapped around the villain's thin throat as the world moved in slow motion.

Surprise replaced the terror as the villain slowly turned his head, eyes popping out and jaw dropping as Nefarious' face drew far too close. Shoulders bent back, the torso following, and the villain's arms dropped from the hold he had on the blaster.

Nefarious pushed them back and rocketed the both of them to the edge of the crumbling plateau. And when the fire at his feet cut away, completely out of fuel, the two flew over the side.

He turned his body, looking back up to the rim of the rock structure as Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark appeared. Air whooshed past him as Qwark stretched out his hand and let out a wounded scream.

" _ **NEFARIOUS!"**_

A laugh bubbled in his throat, and Nefarious chuckled over the villain's screeches of terror.

Qwark hadn't really thought everything was going to end happily ever after, had he?

The villain clawed at the metal arm clamping him to Nefarious' body, snapping his teeth and long nails over the robot's forearm. It was like holding a small animal, one with a ferocious need to make it out of the situation alive.

Unfortunately, the thousand-foot drop alone would do much to put both of them out of commission.

Orange glowed out of the corner of his working optic, growing with each foot the two fell. It grew in size, a mess of goop leaking out of the side of the plateau, no doubt painting the area right beneath them.

The burn hit, and as the villain screeched and melted beside him, Nefarious got his answer as to what the orange goop was.

As the lava from the villain's base consumed his broken body, a small smile stretched across what remained of his mouth. Fire covered his eyes from the outside world, and everything around him faded to nothing.

He had said that saving Qwark was the last thing he would ever do. It had been said with disgust and hatred, a vile nausea that accompanied the thought of putting himself in danger for one of his enemies.

Now, it didn't feel wrong to be right about his fate.

**Author's Note:**

> Song Inspo: "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem (the Karla Vásquez cover) and "Halo" by Beyoncé (the Kevin Vásquez cover).
> 
> Not my best attempt at angst after writing nothing but fluff for the past few years, but *shrug*, this serves as good practice and emotional release. One day I'll do a Bad Things Happen Bingo card and work on practicing my angst GHJK I promise I'll get better.
> 
> Other than that, just some old-fashioned angst! I hope you all enjoyed, and thank you so much for reading and supporting! :D


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